Month: October 2017

Jameis Winston left the Buccaneers’ game against the Cardinals after going down hard on his throwing shoulder.

The team ruled him questionable to return with the injury, even after he tried to play through it.

What does this mean for the Buccaneers? It’s Fitzmagic time. Ryan Fitzpatrick took over at quarterback (and so did his curse) for the Bucs the rest of the day. If Winston has to sit out any other games, Fitzpatrick will get the call again.

“They said he was taped up and spatted and could have gone back in the game,” Jaguars coach Doug Marrone said. “That’s encouraging.”

The injury initially appeared to be significant, as Fournette’s foot got caught underneath him as he was brought to the ground by cornerback Trumaine Johnson. Fournette tried to hop to the sideline before falling back to the ground.

Fournette rushed for 130 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown run on Jacksonville’s first offensive snap, on 21 carries Sunday. The fourth overall pick in this year’s draft, Fournette leads the NFL with six rushing touchdowns and also is second in the league in rushing yards (596) and carries (130).

It has taken the Saints three years to get out of the gutter, but they might finally be bouncing back toward mediocrity.

The reality is that the Saints don’t need to possess a top-three defense to make it to the postseason. If the defense can just flirt with competency, that should be enough for Brees and the offense to hit 10 wins. FPI has the Saints nearly there, with 9.6 wins and a division-best 39.8 percent chance of winning the NFC South. With New Orleans catching a break and facing a Packers team without Rodgers in Lambeau this weekend before hosting the Bears, the Saints look in great shape to stay in the thick of the NFC South race.

I still can’t get over how incredible that Nelson Agholor touchdown in the Eagles’ win over the Cardinals was. Let’s all watch it again as I try to gather my thoughts.

Just an awesome play by Agholor. Beats his man deep, makes a good catch with his hands extended away from his body, stiffs arms the defender (rookie safety Budda Baker), does a spin move to make it seem like he’s going to the right, cuts it back to the left, manages to stay in bounds while running along the sideline, and then falls BACKWARDS into the end zone for the touchdown.

After the game, Agholor admitted his “fall backwards into the end zone” was inspired by a certain former Eagles wide receiver.

Green Bay has so many great players on its offense, and Minnesota will have to try and focus on all of them. Even though the Packers’ rushing attack is a bit inconsistent, this offense can still move the ball with ease.

Aaron Rodgers set out to work, hitting Davante Adams along the sideline for 14 before finding Martellus Bennett for a catch-and-run of 14 yards of his own. After an incomplete pass, Aaron Jones sprinted on a draw for 15, getting into field goal range. Another incompletion and a two-yard run by Jones set up a third and eight from the 30. Rodgers broke out of the pocket, scrambling for a huge 18-yard gain down to the 12. Two plays later, Rodgers found Adams on a fade to the corner of the end zone for the go-ahead score.

“It’s a good start for me. I didn’t play for a long time,” Varlamov told The Denver Post after stopping 29 shots Monday. “Came back and started the season with two wins. It brings confidence to the team.”

Some of Boston’s issues have to do with injuries. Forward Patrice Bergeron is on the team’s three-game road trip that starts Wednesday but he won’t play against the Avalanche. In addition, Boston (1-1-0) will be without David Backes (diverticulitis) and Noel Acciari (broken finger) probably until November, according to the Boston Globe.

They called up Danton Heinen from Providence and signed Ryan White to a professional tryout agreement. Both players are with the team on the trip.

The teams finished Game 3 before 6:30 p.m. on Sunday but didn’t find out until about 11 p.m. what time they would be playing Game 4, because TV wanted to keep the Yankees in prime time. That left the Red Sox and Astros with a brief afternoon window before the rain began to fall, as expected.

The game started on time and was not delayed, but the rain kept the grounds crew busy raking drying agent on the infield.

Here is where players whose jersey sales go against the expectations are more likely the direct result of on-field performance than any other factor. Players who go on the road and see a rise in sales are those fantasy managers should be targeting, if possible. Meanwhile, those who drop down the list or simply maintain the status quo, despite thousands of potential purchasers sitting in a stadium full of opportunity to do so? Be afraid.

The sellout crowd of 48,614 roared and Judge flashed a bright smile. It was the first time the rookie slugger had robbed an opponent of a home run and the first time Lindor had ever been so denied, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

“The city of Houston is still rebuilding,” Hinch said. “It’s easy for us to look in the rearview mirror and think that the hurricane is over (but) the rebuild is not going to stop for a long time. … We want to win for them, we want to win for us, we want to win because we showed up in spring training to try to win a World Series.”

Springer and Yuli Gurriel each had three hits for the AL West champions, and Reddick’s go-ahead single made up for misplaying a fly ball into a home run in Game 3 to force a fourth game. Reddick got a postgame drenching in the clubhouse while wearing a red, white and blue flag Speedo.

Verlander also beat Sale in the playoff opener and is now 7-0 for his new team. Sale, who had never appeared in the postseason before 2017, pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing two runs and four hits, striking out six.

The Avalanche are trying to recover from an NHL-worst 48 points last season, so winning in Boston and at Madison Square over the New York Rangers on Thursday was a good start. Wednesday is their only home game sandwiched between five on the road, so they want to make a good impression on the fans.

Starting out well on the road helped with the confidence.

“It feels good to come home 2-1,” Avs defenseman Erik Johnson told The Denver Post. “We haven’t come home from a road trip with a winning record in a long time. So it feels good to have that. But you can’t rest on anything you’ve accomplished so far. We have to reset and not be satisfied and continue to push forward.”

“Sure, we wanted to play — I think everybody wanted to play,” Torre said. “But we certainly didn’t want to play at a cost, especially in postseason.”

Kansas City has had possession for just 4:50 and has yet to pick up a first down.

Touchdown Pittsburgh. Le’Veon Bell takes a handoff and runs into the end zone from 3 yards away to put the Steelers ahead 9-3 in Kansas City. Bell already has 75 rushing yards on 12 carries.

No. 3 seed — Panthers (4-2): First place, NFC South. They’ve played and won one more game than New Orleans and Atlanta have, but they already lost to the former at home and have yet to play the latter. It’s the slimmest of leads for inconsistent Carolina.

No. 4 seed — Rams (4-2): First place, NFC West. They’ve played and won one more game than Seattle, which beat LA in Week 5. But the Rams are impressive upstarts with road victories at San Francisco, Dallas and Jacksonville. Imagine if they get rolling in LA.

No. 5 seed — Packers (4-2): Second place, NFC North. How long they will last in playoff position and division contention are now massive questions, as Rodgers might miss the rest of the season. The schedule does no favors with New Orleans and Detroit next with Brett Hundley about to make his first NFL start.

There also were controversial officiating decisions aplenty.

Here’s a look at some of the top local headlines from a slate that did little to provide clarity in an increasingly muddled NFL.

McCarthy: Losing Rodgers “speaks for itself.”: Packers coach Mike McCarthy didn’t need to spell out the significance of losing Rodgers to a broken collarbone, saying the injury “speaks for itself.” With games against the high-powered Saints, Lions and two playoff contenders in the Ravens and Steelers on the horizon, Rodgers’ significance may soon be reflected by their record.

Tennessee played without quarterback Marcus Mariota, who was inactive because of a left hamstring injury suffered a week ago. Replacement Matt Cassel went 21 for 32 for 141 yards and was sacked six times.

“If guys would do their jobs — catch the ball, block the right guys, give the quarterback a chance to do something …” Gase said. “Jay is way down the list of things going wrong.”

The Dolphins came in ranked last in the NFL in points and yards per game, and struggled against a Titans team that allowed 57 points against Houston a week ago.

Tyrod Taylor’s off-target pass was picked off near midfield with 2:14 left, clinching it for Cincinnati. Taylor finished 20 of 37 for 166 yards with a touchdown pass to Brandon Tate . He also was sacked six times.

“It wasn’t a great offensive performance and I take responsibility for that,” Taylor said. “I take the blame. My job is to get the ball out quicker. Sometimes we weren’t on the same page.”

The Bengals changed offensive coordinators after failing to get a touchdown in their first two games. Green complained that they weren’t getting the ball to their difference makers in the biggest moments. He caught seven passes for 189 yards Sunday, the third-highest total of his career.

Green ran past rookie cornerback Tre’Davious White and caught Andy Dalton’s pass in stride for a 77-yard score on the Bengals’ second possession. Green also had a hand in the Bengals’ three turnovers that kept the Bills in it. Green had passes go off his hands and his chest for a pair of interceptions . He also fumbled after a catch .

Injuries and inconsistent quarterback play were largely Sunday’s big stories in fantasy football, as the New York Giants’ passing game was obliterated by the former, losing Odell Beckham Jr. (broken ankle), Dwayne Harris (foot), Brandon Marshall (ankle) and Sterling Shepard (ankle) to injuries in the same game, while elsewhere both Charles Clay (knee) and DeVante Parker (ankle) also suffered early exits. Meanwhile, quarterbacks managed nearly as many turnovers (21) as they threw touchdowns (25) during the 1 p.m. ET game block.

We’re talking about the family and the field, folks. Team president Rod Wood has been a terrific hire to represent owner and chairman Martha Firestone Ford. The Fords are fully committed to putting out the best product for the long term. From the Quinn hire and the willingness to spend in a smart way, it’s been backed up.

The Fords also have erased some of the bad feelings that date back to the Matt Millen era. A subtle one is getting black out of their uniforms with more of a nod to the silver standard of their best days.

After Stafford was drafted No. 1 overall in 2009, his big arm was immediately put to work for aggressive downfield passing. Once he came back from a sophomore season lost to a shoulder injury, he peaked with a prolific playoff-bound season (41 passing TDs, 5,038 passing yards) in 2011. While the numbers were there early under Scott Linehan, they also set up Stafford for extra wear, and the results quickly went from mixed to poor.

Week 5 of NFL action brings more interesting matchups, especially a Sunday clash between the Panthers and the Lions, with both teams fresh off wins last week and Cam Newton scoring four total touchdowns in a surprising win over the Patriots. The Giants continue to search for their first win on the year and face the Chargers, who also are 0-4.

Colin Kaepernick detailed his desire to play in the NFL and his daily workout plan to CBS Sports. Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images
Away from the NFL, Kaepernick has been focused on charity work. He works with children in Harlem firsthand and has organized a fundraiser that is giving out a total of $1 million to various groups.

Kaepernick has not been with an NFL team since severing his contract with the San Francisco 49ers in March. He initially sat during the national anthem in the 2016 preseason to bring more attention to the killings of black men by police officers before switching to kneeling in a movement that has spread through the league while also being vilified — including multiple negative comments from President Donald Trump.

The NFL has not reached out to Kaepernick to discuss social issues. Trump’s comments last month drew a leaguewide response as more players chose to kneel, link arms or otherwise react during the national anthem.

Just when it seemed like defense was taking over in the NFL, the 49ers and Rams gave us a game for the ages on Thursday night with Los Angeles eeking out a 41-39 victory.

Todd Gurley’s three touchdowns (two rushing, one receiving) and Carlos Hyde’s two scores highlighted the high-scoring game, and anyone with these running backs (or Sammy Watkins/Jared Goff) in their fantasy lineup this week has to feel great heading into the weekend with a big head start.

Friday’s announcement means Elliott will be able to play Monday against the Arizona Cardinals and in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Rams.

The NFL is seeking to have Elliott serve his six-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy immediately. The NFL’s request for a stay seeks to nullify a preliminary injunction granted in a Texas court that has allowed Elliott to play.

The court is seeking briefs from both sides by Wednesday on the issue of U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant’s jurisdiction.

Elliott has rushed for 112 yards on 33 carries with zero touchdowns this season. He admitted to having a “bad effort” during a loss Sunday to the Denver Broncos.

Marvin Lewis reportedly had to fire offensive coordinator Ken Zampese because of the ‘near mutiny’ he had on his hands.

Players were becoming outwardly agitated at the way Zampese had been calling plays and they forced Lewis’ hand, Pro Football Talk reported.

While CTE and other brain injuries are a concern for NFL players, Brady just wants to focus on his task at hand right now. He will worry about his life after the NFL when it arrives.

“I don’t know what the future is going to look like, you know, and I’m not going to pretend to predict it,” Brady said. “And I’m going to do everything I can to take care of my body in advance of the hits that I’m going to take on Sunday.”

The Patriots shockingly lost their first game this season at home against the Chiefs. Brady looked out of sync most of the night, and New England’s defense was torched by Chiefs rookie running back Kareem Hunt.

Brady has always had a solid offensive line in front of him, which has allowed him to remain in the pocket longer and make precision passes. But as he gets older and slower, heavy hits could become a problem.